Despite a tremendous run at the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup with more than 500 runs, Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Shreyas Iyer was excluded from the annual contract of the BCCI in February. Now, a video going viral on social media claims to show him refusing to shake hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with those sharing it alleging this was why he was dropped.
An X user wrote: "Remember when Indian cricketer Shreyas Iyer had refused to shake hands with Modi after CWC Final? He was later dropped from BCCI central contact by Jay Shah. Today he has followed Dhruv Rathee on Instagram One of the very few cricketers with a spine, Shreyas Iyer." The archive version of such a post can be seen here.
India Today Fact Check found that Iyer shook hands with the prime minister, but that part was edited out in the viral video.
OUR PROBE
After India's heartbreak at the World Cup Finals, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah paid a visit to the dressing room of the Indian team. They reportedly consoled the players and also praised their performance throughout the campaign.
With the help of a search with keywords, we found the complete video of the PM's interaction with the players on the official YouTube channel of Narendra Modi.
Uploaded on November 21, 2023, the caption of this video reads, "PM Modi Meets the Men in Blue, Comforts Indian Cricket Team After World Cup Final." Here, the PM could be seen consoling the Indian players and the support staff.
At the 1 minute 20 seconds mark in the viral video, the PM could be seen shaking hands with Indian middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer, followed by Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, and KL Rahul. This frame can be seen below.
The reason behind Shreyas Iyer's exclusion from the BCCI’s annual contract remains foggy. According to some reports, Iyer and Ishan Kishan’s contracts were axed for not playing in the Ranji Trophy. The top cricket body also issued a statement which noted, "The BCCI has recommended that all athletes give precedence to participating in domestic cricket during periods when they are not representing the national team."
It’s noteworthy that various screenshots going viral on social media claim to show the cricketer had followed YouTuber Dhruv Rathee on Instagram. However, at the time of writing this on May 15, Iyer’s following list did not feature Rathee’s name.
Regardless, it is abundantly clear that he never refused to shake hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Published On:
May 15, 2024
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